The shares of South Africa’s JSE-listed telecommunications operators performed significantly better in 2025 than 2024, suggesting the sector is in the middle of a resurgence headed into 2026.
Cell C parent Blu Label Unlimited Group, MTN Group, Telkom Group and Vodacom Group all outperformed the overall market handsomely last year.
Nozipho Mngomezulu, group executive for legal and regulatory affairs at Telkom, said the resurgence of the sector can be attributed to several factors, including continued investment by operators in broadband infrastructure, improvements in network performance as a result of the continued roll-out of 4G and 5G technology (using spectrum obtained in the 2023 spectrum auction), the increased stability in South Africa’s electricity supply, and a positive macroeconomy, including lower inflation and interest rates.
South African telco shares peaked around March 2022, fuelled by a surge in demand for data connectivity after Covid-19 lockdowns drove the work-from-home phenomenon. Although the world anticipated an economic recovery as lockdown restrictions eased, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and money-printing by central banks sent prices soaring, kicking off a high-inflation environment that would see household incomes shrink and consumers tighten their belts, lowering their spending on data and communications.
In South Africa, the macroeconomic outlook was further exacerbated by high levels of load shedding, forcing mobile operators to redirect capital spending to diesel generators and batteries. Floods in KwaZulu-Natal later that same year led to large-scale infrastructure damage, forcing operators to spend more on recovery and restoration.
Chokehold
2023 was the worst year of load shedding on record, with mobile operators spending huge sums to keep critical infrastructure online. In a July 2023 interview with TechCentral, Vodacom Group CEO Shameel Joosub said the company had spent R350-million on diesel in the previous financial year in South Africa. In October that same year, MTN announced that it would commit between R4.5-billion and R5-billion towards combating load shedding.
The financial impact on the operators was so severe that sector lobby group the Association for Comms & Technology approached government to seek relief in the form of diesel rebates for the sector. (It was not successful.)
Read: Why Telkom is winning in mobile
The energy deficit had the economy in a chokehold, and with very little prospect for meaningful growth, South Africa’s financial markets, including the telecoms sector, performed poorly. The economic turnaround began with Eskom’s implementation of a successful generation recovery plan, led by board chairman Mteto Nyati and CEO Dan Marokane. In October 2024, Eskom marked 200 consecutive days without load shedding. The company then swung back into profit – its first in eight years.
The shift in the country’s energy outlook coincided with other positive macroeconomic shifts in 2025. Inflation plummeted to 2.7% in March and averaged 3.4% for the rest of the year, well within the Reserve Bank’s target range. This led to a number of interest rate cuts throughout the year that relieved consumers of their debt burdens, freeing up money for spending on other things, including data and voice.
The oil price also dropped some 20% from around $75 at the start of the to just over $60 by the end. This led to a string of fuel price cuts that brought further relief to consumers. Other positive developments in 2025 included S&P Global upgrading South Africa’s sovereign credit rating from BB- to BB and the removal of South Africa from the Financial Action Task Force grey list.
“This has arguably supported the JSE more broadly and reduced the risk-free rate for South Africa, contributing to a lower cost of capital for South African corporates,” said a Vodacom spokesman.
Read: The top-performing South African tech shares of 2025
“The JSE had an excellent year in 2025, outperforming the US and emerging markets. The telecoms sector was one of several that performed well. Last year was characterised by a more stable foreign exchange environment across Africa, including in key markets such as Egypt, Kenya and Nigeria. In the case of Egypt and Nigeria, these were coupled with price increases, which supported a growth acceleration for the likes of Vodacom and MTN,” said the Vodacom spokesman.
In a presentation of the company’s quarterly results for the three months to end-September, MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita said Nigeria – MTN’s largest market by revenue and customers – had emerged strongly from a very challenging 18- to 24-month period that was characterised by significant depreciation in the naira, leading to losses that had groupwide implications of the company’s financial performance.
“MTN Nigeria has restored its retained income and net equity into positive positions in the timelines we previously guided. This was announced with MTN Nigeria’s third quarter results, along with a resumption of dividends. These are major milestones in the recovery journey of the business,” said Mupita.
Vodacom and MTN did not perform as well in their home market of South Africa, where rival Telkom has been scooping up market share. Even so, their share prices continued rallying to close the year in the black.
Cell C listing
Another significant market development in 2025 was Blu Label’s successful restructuring of Cell C, which culminated in the separate listing of South Africa’s fourth-largest operator in November. Cell C debuted at R27.50/share and was trading at R30.99 by midday last Friday.
Despite the industry’s positive strides, Telkom’s Mngomezulu warned that there are several negatives that threaten growth should they not be addressed properly.
“The industry continues to be negatively impacted by persistent issues such as crime, vandalism and policy uncertainty. We are nevertheless hopeful that these issues will be addressed or see some resolution in 2026 and that the industry will continue to build on the gains achieved in 2025,” said Mngomezulu. – © 2026 NewsCentral Media
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